the gray mosquito, the hairy mosquito, the white-clawed mosquito, the
dwarf mosquito, the trumpeter, the little fifer, the urtiquis, the
harlequin, the big black, and the red of the woods; or rather they
make take their choice of you for a little repast, and you will come
back hardly recognizable! I fancy these bloodthirsty diptera guard
the Brazilian frontier considerably better than the poverty-stricken
soldiers we see on the bank."

"But if everything is of use in nature," asked Minha, "what is the
use of mosquitoes?"

"They minister to the happiness of entomologists," replied Manoel;
"and I should be much embarrassed to find a better explanation."

What Manoel had said of the Loreto mosquitoes was only too true. When
Benito had finished his business and returned on board, his face and
hands were tattooed with thousands of red points, without counting
some chigoes, which, in spite of the leather of his boots, had
introduced themselves beneath his toes.

"Let us set off this very instant," said Benito, "or these wretched
insects will invade us, and the jangada will become uninhabitable!"

"And we shall take them into Para," said Manoel, "where there are
already quite enough for its own needs."

And so, in order not to pass even the night near the banks, the
jangada pushed off into the stream.

On leaving Loreto the Amazon turns slightly toward the southwest,